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SharePoint information architecture

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SharePoint information architecture

How to design a SharePoint site structure that scales — hubs, sites, navigation, and the patterns that work.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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01

What is SharePoint information architecture?

The design of sites, hubs, navigation, metadata, and content types so people can find things: which sites exist and why, how they are grouped under hubs, what the global navigation shows, and which metadata columns and…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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02

Should we use one big site or many small sites?

Many small sites, one per team, project, or topic, grouped under hubs. A site is the unit of permissions, retention, and lifecycle; giant sites with subsites and broken inheritance are the legacy pattern Microsoft moved…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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03

What are hub sites for?

Associating related sites so they share navigation, branding, and search scope without changing permissions — a department hub with its project sites, for example. A site can belong to one hub; hubs can be nested one le…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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04

One organisation-wide news feed everyone reads

Structure: Hub with communication-site homepage; every other site associates to it

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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05

A department or function that collaborates internally and publishes some content out

Structure: Spoke team site associated to the HQ hub

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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06

A cross-functional programme spanning many departments

Structure: New hub (Programme hub) with the participating team sites associated to it

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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A single-purpose short-lived team (a project, a bid, a task force)

Structure: Team site provisioned from a template, no hub required

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-information-architecture

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